Among 15-44 year olds, the number of hospitalizations for influenza or influenza-like illness increased by 93% during the week of January 30 to February 5.
The flu season is not over. In his latest weekly newsletter published this Wednesday, Public Health France notes a “rebound of the epidemic”: 11 of the 13 regions of metropolitan France are now classified in the epidemic phase, including Brittany, yet classified in the “post-epidemic” phase the previous week.
From now on, only the Normandy and Hauts-de-France regions are not in the epidemic phase. The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côtes d’Azur regions are conversely the most affected.
A 43% increase in hospitalizations
In detail, the incidence rate of consultations for flu-like illness increased by 38% between the week of January 23 to 29 and that of January 30 to February 5. Visits to the emergency room are also increasing, by +40%, as is the number of hospitalizations, by +43%.
Proof of the epidemic recovery currently at work, these same figures were less important during the epidemic point shared last week. The incidence rate of consultations as the number of hospitalizations increased “only” by 13%.
On the hospital side, the epidemic bulletin notes “a sharp increase in the number of visits to the emergency room for influenza or flu syndrome and the number of hospitalizations after passage; this trend was observed in all age groups and particularly marked in 15-44 year olds (+93%)”.
Blame it on the type B strain?
This rebound comes at a time when the start of the year was marked by a relative lull in contaminationafter the end of 2022 marked by a triple epidemic: that of Covid-19, influenza, and bronchiolitis in young children.
The epidemic was relaunched in particular by the expansion of a new strain, called type B, even if the first, type A, remains present.
The type B virus “can quite reinfect people who have already had type A flu”, infectious disease specialist Benjamin Davido explained to AFP last week.
Since the start of surveillance of the epidemic last October, 712 people with influenza have been admitted to intensive care in France, indicates Public Health France. 83 deaths have been reported: 40 in the over 65s, 40 in the 15-64 age group and three in the under 15s.
“This significant severity compared to previous seasons was observed in all age groups, but was particularly marked among 45-64 year olds”, underlines Public Health France.
